Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Point of Contact Between the Lost and the Saved

There is a point in time when the lost
and the saved meet.At this point of
contact, there is opportunity to speak Jesus Christ to the lost.The opportunity may never come again…

To make effective use of the point of
contact”

1.Take God’s Word seriously – for our good, the good of our families, and
the good of society.

2.Determine truth from falsehood by the scripture alone

3.Hold fast to the truth.

4.Avoid worldly entanglements.

Remember the Bible is the Word of God.

The Bible is carried to the world
through the churches, and the people who make up the churches.

The church has the duty of teaching
the congregation the Word of God according to the Bible.

The congregation of true followers of
Jesus Christ has the duty of teaching the world.

It is the duty of every believer to
apply Bible teachings to personal actions.

It is the duty of every believer to
take obedience to God very seriously.

The contact of the believer with the
world is limited because the people of the world are going in one direction,
and the people of God are going in another direction.A believer cannot turn from the narrow way in
order to ‘reach the lost’.However,
there is a point in time, a point of contact when the lost are face to face
with the redeemed.At that point of
contact there isn’t time to consider what the believer should tell the
lost.The believer must already know
where he or she stands regarding what the scripture says.The believer must be able to articulate truth
in a clear but brief manner.The
following, while not Bible passages, are taken from the Bible and condensed
into tenants of the faith.They are to
give believers guidelines for Bible study, proper ways to watch for error from
Bible teachers so-called, and to use to convert the lost and set the feet of
new believers on the path to Bible knowledge instead of ‘seat of the pants’
theology.

Obviously, the first thing to know are
the fundamentals of the faith.

1.The Bible is inerrant

2.The pre-existence and deity of Christ

3.Jesus was born of Virgin

4.Jesus was crucified, died, was buried.

5.Jesus was bodily resurrected from the dead

These things are concrete things
taught in the Bible on which all Christians who understand the power and
authority of God should be able to agree.Today unfortunately, there are many who disagree with point number one,
and from there they question all points.They are not really considering the power and glory of God.In their minds they think, ‘If God is not
able to get His book written correctly, then He probably doesn’t really have
the authority to make the rules.If
these aren’t God’s exact rules, then I have leeway to interpret them in the way
that suits me.It boils down to every
one doing what is right in his or her own eyes.

There are other tenants, or statements
of faith that apply to all the ages as well.This was taken from Wickapedia.comand regards the tenants set down during the Protestant Reformation.

‘The Five solas are five Latin phrases
that emerged during the Protestant Reformation and summarize the Reformers'
basic theological beliefs in contradistinction to the teaching of the Roman
Catholic Church of the day. The Latin word sola means "alone" or "only"
in English. The five solas articulated five fundamental beliefs of the
Protestant Reformation, pillars which the Reformers believed to be essentials
of the Christian life and practice. All five implicitly rejected or countered
the teachings of the then-dominant Catholic Church, which had in the reformers'
mind usurped divine attributes or qualities for the Church and its hierarchy,
especially its head, the pope. Christ alone is head of the church.

Those five solas alone, if taught with
passion and love, are excellent tools to explain the Gospel to someone wanting
to hear the truth.

Christ alone is head of the church. There is no earthly head of the church. No scriptural authority is given to anyone to make such a claim.In this
day of ‘reconciliation’, there is a push for Christianity in general to be reconciled with the Catholic
church.The Bible says we are to be
reconciled to God – not errant teachers.2 Corinthians 5:20 The traditions of man often stand between the individual and God.

In a later era J. CRyle preached:

‘There were three great doctrines or
principles which won the battle of the Protestant Reformation.

(Acts 17:11 says, ‘These were more
noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all
readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were
so.’They exercised the right of private
judgment to make sure Paul was telling the truth.)

Number one tells us the scripture is sufficient.Today there are some who claim ‘new
revelation’.They are liars, perhaps
fooling even themselves, but never the less they are liars.

Furthermore, the scripture is the rule
above anything a man may say, though he be pope or beggar.The Bible is also supreme or stands in
authority over the traditions of man.There is no man made revelation (so called) or tradition that can be
right if it usurps God’s authority.The
Holy Spirit will never speak what is contrary to the written word of God.

Number two reminds us that all
Christians have the right to evaluate the scripture based on the
scripture.Therefore, if a man or woman
preaches something that is error, then the lowliest Christian has the right to disavow
wrong teachings.Currently he or she
also has the right to separate themselves from the church preaching heresy without fear of being
burned as a heretic.

Number three reminds us that it is by
grace through faith that a lost soul is saved.It is without works, or obedience to the law. A truly saved person will do their best to live within the boundaries set by God. Works give evidence of one's salvation; works do not give salvation.

In a more modern day I have been
taught in church that the Bible is:

Inerrant

Sufficient

Relevant

Here we go again with that inerrant
stuff.Fortunately, it is true.The Bible is inerrant.That is the rock solid unshakable foundation
on which a committed Christian can stand.This book is true.It is the Word
of God.It has the words of life.

Sufficient is also a wonderful
tenant.The Bible is complete and makes
clear the way of salvation.There is
nothing new to be added to it or taken away from it.

The Bible is also relevant to whatever
is happening at any given moment in time.No matter what era or age, no matter who the person, no matter what the
nation or people, the Bible has the keys for the individual to make peace with
God.

You may be thinking that these things
are best suited to convert those who are in a false form of Christianity, or
who have fallen into some doctrinal error.It is true tenants of the faith are a good way to approach someone like
that.They are also good to show the way
of truth to someone who may be a social Christian, or has some idea of
Christianity from living in culture with some of the traits of Christian
behavior and hospitality still left.

However, knowing these things is
useful in approaching anyone.If you are
able to engage them in a conversation regarding their eternal destination they
will have questions.The point of
contact is always scripture from the Bible.

The Bible is the word of God.It is the truth.The Bible has power to convert to a receptive
or non-receptive audience.Take a look
at an example of the Apostle Paul’s life.

The Apostle Paul preached to a group
of non-believers on a place called Mars Hill.That was a point of contact, and Paul definitely made the most of
it.He preached the unwavering truth of
Jesus Christ to a totally pagan society.The story is told in Acts 17. (Take the time to read the entire
chapter.It is really good.)

Things just did not appear to be going
well for Paul.He got himself kicked out
of Thessalonica for preaching Jesus Christ.He was escorted to the next city called Berea, where he again set out to
immediately preach Jesus Christ.Things
went a little better there, but the trouble makers from Thessalonica came and
stirred up trouble there as well.The
next thing Paul knew, he was kicked out of Berea and escorted to Athens.

So, what did Paul do in Athens?Did he keep his mouth shut in order to stay out
of trouble?Did he re-evaluate his
approach to preaching?Did he try to
come up with a way to better engage society and then slip in a few uplifting
thoughts about Jesus Christ?No.His heart saw the need of the people to hear
about Jesus.So, he started preaching
Jesus again!The end result was that
some were saved.

How did Paul manage to win converts
from such a group of stuck up scoffers?He didn’t do anything except preach the same message that had gotten him
kicked out of the last two towns.

He preached the scriptures telling
them:

ABOUT GOD

24.God
that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven
and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

25. Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as
though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all
things;

26.And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the
face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the
bounds of their habitation;

TO SEEK GOD

27.That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and
find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD:

28.For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of
your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

CHILDREN OF GOD SHOULD NOT MAKE THE
GODHEAD INTO AN IMAGE

29.Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think
that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and
man's device.

NOW IS THE TIME TO REPENT

30.And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all
men every where to repent:

JUDGEMENT DAY IS COMING

31.Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in
righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given
assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

RESURECTION DAY IS COMING

32.And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and
others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.

PAUL QUIT SPEAKING WHEN HE HAD SAID
ALL

33.So Paul departed from among them.

SOME BELIEVED

34.Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was
Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

When considering this story, you
cannot get past one thing.Paul’s method
was effective.Some were converted out
of a very hard audience.

The Bible is our example in all
things.Because this is the message Paul
used to a pagan society this is the message Christians today should use to a
pagan society, or a Communist society, or a New Age society, or apostates, or
any person or group of people that don’t know Jesus Christ.Paul faced the arrogant when he faced the
Athenians.They thought of him as a
‘babbler’ (V.18), someone fit for amusement. Paul didn’t care.He had a message to preach and he preached
it.

In most of the societies around the
globe today, the gospel is either not known or not respected.The people of most societies are like the
people of Athens, they just want to hear something new and try it out.Obviously a lot of them will not repent
though they hear the truth, but some of them will.Paul had a point of contact with the lost in
three towns in this one chapter of Acts!He didn’t waste any of his time.He seized the opportunity to preach Jesus Christ on all three locations.And, some were saved in every instance.

Paul didn’t know how much time he had
to preach, so he didn’t waste any time trying to fit into society, or ease
people into the idea of Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life.He just jumped in with both feet and started
telling the truth.

Make the most of points of contact
with the lost.Preach/teach the same
message Paul preached/taught to the Athenians.

Remember Colossians 4:5, ‘Walk in
wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be
always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer
every man.’Just like Paul, no one has
time to waste skirting around the issues and mentioning Jesus Christ as an
afterthought.Many people may have only
one point of contact with a Christian in their life time.Others may have many points of contact with
Christians, but no one knows when it will be their last point of contact with
the truth.

Always be ready to throw out a
lifeline to the lost.Tell them about
Jesus Christ.